Ankara resolute over Armenian bill, sole concern ties with France

The assembly's decision for the vote, scheduled for Oct. 12, came at the request from the main opposition Socialist Party, the bill's architect.

When the bill first appeared on the agenda in May, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, backed by Turkish business leaders and unions, appealed to France to block the contentious item, warning of the potential threat to bilateral relations.

As of yesterday the Turkish capital didn't feel the need to release an official response to the recent development in France, which comes at a time when the atmosphere in domestic French politics is heating up with the approach of presidential and parliamentary elections, both slated for next year.

Yet diplomatic sources at the Turkish Foreign Ministry, speaking with the Turkish Daily News, underlined the importance Turkey attributes to bilateral relations with France and expressed concern that adoption of such a controversial bill would harm relations between the two peoples as well as French businessmen doing business in and with Turkey.

"Even if this bill is adopted, it is not possible for Turkey to accept such a theory," the same sources said, while noting that Ankara has been contacting French officials at every level to prevent the bill's adoption.

Turkish officials drew attention to the fact that Armenia, with its aim of having genocide accusations against Turkey accepted by third-party countries, is trying to damage bilateral relations between Turkey and other countries to secure an advantage in the political arena.

"The Armenian lobby should abandon backstage games and should come up with concrete arguments supported by historical facts," the diplomatic sources said, referring to Ankara's proposal last year to establish a joint committee of Turkish and Armenian experts to study allegations of an Armenian genocide in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.

Earlier this month, during talks with his French counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy, as part of a visit to France, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul suggested that France participate in such a body.

Gul said at the time that other countries, including France, could join the proposed committee of Turkish and Armenian academics to study the allegations.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian proposing the establishment of such a committee, but his proposal was turned down by Kocharian, who instead offered an intergovernmental commission that would study ways of resolving problems between the two neighboring countries. Turkey says its proposal is still on the table.

During talks with Douste-Blazy, G?l also raised Ankara's uneasiness over the French bill penalizing any denial of the alleged genocide. Gul told Douste-Blazy it was a contradiction to hold a parliamentary debate on a bill that restricts freedom of expression, while the European Union presses Ankara to amend Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) under which a wave of authors and journalists has been tried. "We cannot accept a historical issue being dragged onto a political platform," he said at the time.

Ahead of his first official visit to Armenia at the invitation of Kocharian, Chirac used the phrase "the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire."

Chirac employed the wording during an interview with an Armenian journal; the transcript was translated into Turkish by the French Embassy in Ankara.

"Europe is first of all an effort of reconciliation, peace, respect and openness to others. I believe in Turkey's ability to pay historical tribute, as the spirit of Europe lies in that," he said.

/Turkish Daily News/